1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder for an image processing apparatus such as a photocopier, a facsimile machine, an image scanner, and the like, and more particularly to an automatic document feeder having an open-and-close cover for removing a jammed document.
2. Discussion of the Background
At the same time that image processing apparatuses such as photocopiers, facsimile machines, image scanners, and the like, are being improved in their performance, such as in processing speeds and processing functions, a demand for a reduction in the installation space of such image processing apparatuses has also increased. In particular, an automatic document feeder is desired to be more compact.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a structure of an exemplary automatic document feeder 106 according to a background art. In FIG. 1, the automatic document feeder 106 is mounted on an image processing apparatus 101, and includes a document-feeding tray 109, a document-receiving tray 118, a feed-in roller 110, a first transport roller pair 111, a second transport roller pair 113, an exit roller pair 117, paper paths 114A, 114B, and 114C, an open-and-close cover 122 with a hole 122H, and a stationary shaft 122P. The stationary shaft 122P is arranged parallel to axes of the feed-in roller 110, the first transport roller pair 111, the second transport roller pair 113, and the exit roller pair 117, and is fixed on a frame (not shown) of the automatic document feeder 106. The open-and-close cover 122 can be rotatively opened toward the left side in FIG. 1 around the shaft 122P, as indicated by the path of arrow 122T. The document-feeding tray 109 loads a stack of documents P1. The document-receiving tray 118 is placed under the document-feeding tray 109 for receiving and stacking documents P2 one by one which are sequentially fed out from the document-feeding tray 109. The paper path 114C includes a window 150 that is provided such that the image processing apparatus 101 can read image information of the document being transported through the path 114C through the window 150. The feed-in roller 110, the first transport roller pair 111, the second transport roller pair 113, and the exit roller pair 117 are arranged along a path including the paper paths 114A, 114B, and 114C in which a document fed from the document-feeding tray 109 is conveyed to the document-receiving tray 118.
The feed-in roller 110 pulls a sheet of a document out from the stack of the documents P1 on the document-feeding tray 109 and feeds the sheet of a document into the paper path 114A. The first transport roller pair 111, the second transport roller pair 113, and the exit roller pair 117 transport the sheet through the paper paths 114B and 114C to the document-receiving tray 118. A sheet of a document on the way from the document-feeding tray 109 to the document-receiving tray 118 may jam in the paths 114A, 114B or 114C, and the jammed sheet then has to be removed.
In a case of such a jam, an operator of the automatic document feeder can open the open-and-close cover 122 toward the left side as indicated by the arrow path 122T in FIG. 1, and thereby the operator can expose the paper paths 114A and 114B and remove the jammed sheet of a document. However, such an open-and-close cover 122 requires a certain extra space, for example, a space W2 as shown in FIG. 1, to be opened for removing the jammed paper. This space W2 is on the left side of the automatic document feeder 106 in FIG. 1. Therefore, despite the fact that the width of the automatic document feeder 106 and the image processing apparatus 101 is W1 as shown in FIG. 1, an area with the total width of W1+W2 is required for installing the image processing apparatus 101 with the automatic document feeder 106 on a desk or a floor. Further, in adjacent to the rotating pivot of the open-and-close cover 122, a space in front of the lower part of the paper path 114B is apt to be small, in which case it may be difficult to remove a jammed sheet.